What’s the best translation of The Brothers Karamazov?
Dostoevsky died before writing the second half of the two-part story he wanted to tell with these characters, but this half is nevertheless a much-admired achievement.
Dostoevsky died before writing the second half of the two-part story he wanted to tell with these characters, but this half is nevertheless a much-admired achievement.
Know someone who loves Russian literature? These editions make good gifts!
So you’re going to read War and Peace in English. A worthy ambition. But do you want the embedded French passages translated into English in the text itself, or in footnotes?
I read and enjoyed the Maude translation, but most people will have heard of the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation, as it was chosen for Oprah’s book club in 2004. Supposedly it sounds more like Tolstoy than, say, Garnett…
“Not to have read it is a crime, and reading it is the punishment.”
I was happy with the Garnett translation; not so happy with the Nietzschean philosophy.
Cyrillic: Incomprehensible yet blessedly phonetic!